skull emoji | EnQueer x SWP Series

After two highly successful Queer Writers’ Festivals, EnQueer is bringing a two-panel literary series to Sydney WorldPride to showcase some of Australia’s leading established and emerging queer writers and thinkers.

<skull emoji> is an exploration of the nihilistic sensibilities of Gen Z on queer young adult writing.

The image of a skull, long synonymous with death, pirates, and punk, has now been re-imagined as the ‘laugh out loud’ emoji, an apt reflection of Gen Z humour – a complex blend of absurdism and nihilism.

This session will bring together a diverse panel of young adult writers across a range of literary genres – fiction, short form, media – to discuss the milieu of the queer Gen Z defined by the omnipresence of the online world, the existential threat of climate change, and increased acceptance and visibility of the queer spectrum.

A humorous and insightful look into the dichotomous psyche of the queer Gen Z, this will be a unique opportunity to hear from young adult queer writers about how their lived experiences, hopes and anxieties shape their sensibilities and their work, finding authenticity in the mundane and grappling with catastrophe by turning to fantasy and the absurd.

Featuring writers:

Michael Sun

Imbi

Gary Loesborough

Laneikka Deanne

Adrian Mouhajer